Reflections of Me

The website http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/speced/guide/assist.pdf gives some really good information on the use of assistive technology in the special education classroom.  It gives good insight to the types of technology that is available, and how to go about implementing them in the classroom.  This is a great resource for any special education teacher.

I found this website: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech041.shtml to give me more insight into what the “digital divide” is.  My understanding of what the “digital divide” is, is that it is the gap between those who have access and have been exposed to technology, and those that do not have direct access and exposure.  The website explores what kinds of things are being done to bridge that gap.

I would use the website http://www.halcyon.com/marcs/lessons.html to get ideas for my special education classroom.  This webpage has tons of great lesson plan ideas for special education, and in a variety of grade levels.  It is a great site for any special ed. teacher.

At the website http://www.edbydesign.com, there are interactive learning games that are geared specifically for special education students.  Language and math skills are practiced in a fun and unique way.  I think the students would enjoy the novelty of these games because it is something different from the norm and it will hold their attention and make learning fun.  I would definately use interactive learning games in my classroom.

I really like the website http://www.writinga-z.com/razwritingweb/topic/writing+tools/story+cards?id=44.  It gives really great ideas for creating story cards to link words together for literacy.  It gives some good examples of uses for these cards.  There are also other templates that teachers can use to create their own classroom materials.  I would use some of these ideas in a special education classroom.

http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/HowTo/MyWPI/troubleshootclassroom-student.html This website is a great resource for teachers to learn how to troubleshoot technological issues.  It shows how to troubleshoot everything from checking browser settings to using the internet, to working with Photoshop.  I have bookmarked this page because I’m sure I will need to use this as a resource in the future!

http://www.centennialcollege.ca/future/cidcheatingandplagiarism.jsp is a website that gives good information about dealing with digital cheating and plagiarism.  While it is geared towards college professors dealing with that in their college classrooms I think that these tips can be used for younger grades.  Ideas include things like avoiding topics that are too general or common, getting handwritten in-class writing samples from each student early in the course, and having students read and sign an “academic honesty” contract. 

The website I found is http://www.education-world/a_tech/tech087.shtml.  In the article that I found it talks about how teachers can use technology to send memos via e-mail to staff regarding things such as meetings and changes in schedules.  Educators at an elementary school in Wisconsin use technology to broadcast school news though a cable television network, keep attendance electronically, and maintin grades through an online gradebook.  It goes on to talk about different schools that incorporate technology beyond their classroom instruction.

In the September 2006 issue of Edutopia magazine, it stated that though nearly 40% of students in public schools are minorities, only about 10% of teachers are.  It makes me wonder if there would be improvements in academics and social behavior if more teachers were minorities, or if it would have the opposite effect on students.  I honestly don’t know if it would have an effect at all.  In some ways I think that students would be able to identify more with a teacher that is from the same racial or ethnic background as them, but at the same time, perhaps it would cause them to think that they can get away with more, therefore affecting their academic progress.

http://www.edutechie.com/2007/01/five-ways-you-could-use-video-in-education/ This is a great website that gives really good ideas for using audio/video equipment in the classroom.  They give ideas on how to use video to record class presentations,  make instructional videos for a specific topic, making video blogs, showing videos as anticipatory sets, etc.  I think this is a great resource for teachers because it not only gives ideas, but shows specific ways to incorporate these sorts of ideas into everyday classroom work.